Art Journal 12/1/08

Art Journal Page

The first time I've journaled in I don't even know how long. Not the greatest picture, but I don't have a scanner, what can I say?

@$%#@%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't keep up with my blog, my art, my life.

Bizarre Bazaar = BUST!

Well, it was certainly bizarre and not in a good way. I just don't even have words, really.

To begin with, the fair was not ANYTHING like it was presented online. It said online that this fair gets THOUSANDS of visitors every year and I doubt it had even 200. Not much traffic. Problem #1.

Problem #2 was the TYPE of traffic we got. The majority of the visitors were aged 55-65. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not really my target demographic. And they were BORING middle-aged people. The kind who buy doilies in great quantity. I am not making that part up. I think the woman diagnolly across from me selling the crocheted doilies made out better than anyone else.

At least I was smart enough to leave my queer stuff at home.

I sold barely anything and most people did not "get" my stuff. Which is not to say no one did. There were some very enthusiastic people and a few were even over the age of 10! Oh, did I mention yet how many times I was told my jewelry was perfect for children? About 5 million.

Yes, my stuff has a very young vibe, but it's not exactly MEANT to be only for kids people!!!! Although I must say the 8 year old who bought my rubber chicken necklace was my best customer of the day.

The highlight, though, I leave for last. The fair was until 4 and vendors were expected to stay until the end. Well, I was packed up and out of there at 10 of. I literally couldn't take one more second. So as I am leaving the woman diagnolly across from me the opposite way as the doily-lady says to me "Can I give you some unsolicited advice?" Which means there is always something nasty coming. Why didn't I just say no and keep on walking?

Anyways, she tells me I really need to think about my designs and start creating things that can't be found in the mall because people come to craft fairs looking for original stuff. WTF? I was like, actually you can't find anything even close to what I make in a mall. Just a rotten end to a really rotten day. Have to be insulted on my way out.

I somehow found a craft fair in the area to squeak into for this weekend. Thank GOD. Although who knows what will happen. I am not expecting much at this point but MAYBE I'll sell some stuff and be able to save myself? We'll see. It was a cheap table fee for the weekend and I have a crapton of inventory ready so I had to give it a shot.

I am gonna work on getting all my new stuff photographed next week so I can start listing it all on Etsy. I've got a couple new lines of jewelry I'm working on now that I am really excited about! I'm making tarot "collage" resin pendants and I really love the way the are coming out. I plan on doing all of the major arcana and the court cards, and then minor arcana as the mood strikes me or if I get requests for them.

Damn. I wanted to post pics but just realized they aren't uploaded to my computer yet. Oh well. Soon. I am also getting started on pendants featuring my artwoork, so stay tuned for that.

WISH ME LUCK THIS WEEKEND. Pray or do a raindance or something to help me sell some stuff so I can pay my rent. I'll be at the White Oak School in Westfield, MA so come see me if you're in the area. Saturday 9AM-3PM and Sunday 10AM-2PM. :)

More soon including pics.

Bizarre Bazaar

I will be a vendor at the 39th Annual Bizarre Bazaar held at the Gladys Allen Brigham Community Center in Pittsfield, MA. The show will be from 9AM-4PM Saturday October 18th. Come see me if you are in Berkshire county!

I still have quite a bit to do to get ready, but I think I will be able to do everything just in the nick of time. I've been busy, busy, busy trying to create new jewelry for this one. It will be my first time vending at an actual arts and crafts SHOW rather than vending at a conference.

I am hoping this means SALES! LOL! Apparently this show gets thousands of visitors each year so I am hopeful.

Whatever doesn't sell will be going into my Etsy shop in the coming weeks. I made tons of really fun new pendants, so be sure and check back soon.

Wish me luck!

Queer Etsy Street Team & Blog Features!

We have a new street team on Etsy! My friend and talented artist Michelley Queen of Queens created the Queer Etsy Street Team for LGBTQIQ artists and crafters. (Yes, we know the acronym is cumbersome.)

In case you aren't familiar with them, an Etsy team is a group united by craft, location, or some sort of common interest. Being part of a team is a good support network and also helps with promoting and networking.

We are just starting out, but we have a great group of people so far and I expect great things to come for the team. :) Be sure and check out our team blog, ning community, and our team page on Etsy. We'd love to have you if you're an Etsian that falls somewhere within the LGBTQIQ spectrum!

In order to get to know team members better, we are doing a weekly blog interview posted each Friday. Yours truly will be the regular interviewer, but this past Friday I was interviewed by Keith of fauxsure. Be sure and check me out here.

I'm also the Monday feature in the blog of fellow team member, Heathen's Hearth. Be sure and check out her Etsy shop for great soaps and other bath and body products.

For now I leave you with lots of exciting new items from my cherryberrybunny Etsy shop!

nolose

I've been trying to process all my feelings about the nolose conference for the past week. It ended up being an unexpectedly difficult and emotional weekend for me. I thought it was going to be fatopia the way the Femme Con. was femmetopia for me. And it just wasn't.

The vending end of things did not go as I expected. I thought it would be relatively easy to match what I did at the Femme Con. and my goal was to try and do even better. Ha! Well, I realized pretty quickly on that for whatever reason selling was not going to go the way I expected. So that was stressful right off the bat. Don't get me wrong, I am EXTREMELY grateful for everyone who supported me both in their enthusiastic response to my work and in buying a piece or pieces from me. Truly. But it's still difficult when you have put a lot of time and effort into making 50 pendants for a specific event and know that most of your time, money, and effort is going down the tubes before your very eyes.

Then there's the issue of always being tied to your table. During social times, like during meals, when everyone is walking around and talking and eating and getting to know each other--as a vendor you're sitting there alone. I talked way more to the other vendors than anyone else the whole weekend. It was really overwhelming not knowing anyone and kind of feeling disconnected from the whole conference experience. I got to say hi to a lot of people as they came by my table, but I didn't get a chance to make a lot of deeper connections.

That part of things was easier for me at the FC because I went into it knowing a lot of people. I had a huge group of friends to socialize with every night regardless of whether or not I was tied to my vendor table all day. Not something I had thought about. I didn't have 15 people I had known online for years and/or had met in person surrounding me this time.

This conference was also really triggering and difficult for me emotionally. Again, not something I was anticipating. But I realized I have way more internalized shit around being fat and way more unchecked fat-phobia than I do about anything else. I got slapped in the face big time with all of that. I'm not even prepared to go into everything I felt and am still feeling as fall-out from the weekend; suffice it to say that it was really draining and I actually had a major meltdown on Saturday complete with tears and getting mascara all over some innocent butch bystander's hanky.

I came home exhausted and sick and emotionally worn. Which is not to say that it's a bad thing I went. Usually when something is that difficult for you, it means it's probably good for you and it's bringing up important things you need to deal with. But that doesn't make it FUN.

I've been listing lots of the stuff that didn't sell on Etsy and am still waiting to hear back on a craft show in October where I can hopefully sell a bunch of the not-fat-related stuff. I'm going to try and do as many craft shows as I physically can between now and the holidays. I've decided I'm not meant to do other work besides creating. It's just a matter of figuring out how to make a living at it. I think craft shows on a regular basis is a good possibility. It can fill in all the holes bewteen my art and what I'm selling on Etsy.

I'm off to New Mexico starting Wednesday and then it will be a frantic few days trying to get ready for this next show, assuming I get in, which I think I will. That's about it for now.

Ugh.

I am frantic trying to get ready to vend this weekend, and I ended up having to throw away 24 ruined resin pendants in various stages of completion tonight. I got a little over-zealous with the mold release and it left white stuff all over the front that I can't get off. I am going to have to make them all over again. :( AND my bags aren't in yet AND my bails aren't here either AND my business cards aren't ready. Could I be any more stressed???????

In other news, my new phone came in the mail today and it's so fancy I can barely figure out how to work it! My poor roommate got called twice accidentally as I was trying to enter her information. Please understand, I have had a piece of crap phone for the past two years that wouldn't get reception in my apartment, refused to send text messages properly, and whose battery died after like 15 mins. I don't even know what to do with myself. Bluetooth headset what? Extra memory card what?

"You break it you buy it. No say sorry."

From a sign I saw once in a store in Chinatown, NYC.

Since when did it become ok to hand people items that have been in your child's mouth? Seriously. You may not mind having little Johnny's slobber all over you. I, however, have a problem with it. Note to self: Invest in a large bottle of hand sanitizer.

I am fast coming to the conclusion that most people are either extremely greedy, complete morons, or a little bit of both. Do you have any idea how crazy people are over coupons? Just how seriously they take them? Just to what lengths people will go to thwart coupons rules? To save a mere forty cents? If I tried to explain it, you wouldn't even believe me.

There is also a serious problem when you struggle not to vomit over customers. Not once, but twice this week, I was in the danger zone; gagging and using all of my strength not to puke. I don't know how much smoking and how few showers cause people to smell like that, I really don't.

Second note to self: Find a way to get out of retail after the new year.

Life is crazy!

I feel like I haven't had time to catch my breath since I've gotten back from Chicago. I went right to work the next day after driving all that way, and I haven't had more than one day off in a row since. I feel like I am running on empty big time.

Luckily, I get two days in a row off this week and maybe I can BEGIN to feel like I am catching up on a little rest!

I've been creating like mad and trying to promote my Cherry Berry Bunny Etsy shop like mad. I have tons of new stuff in there, so you should check it out. And even more that needs to be listed and/or photographed. I'm also gearing up to vend at nolose at the end of the month. My goal is to sell 100 items. I sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 55-60 at the FC, so I'm thinking it's doable. I'm gonna sure try, anyway. Wish me luck!

The only unfortunate part of all this jewelry-making is that I haven't been doing much painting. I somehow need to balance out promoting both Etsy shops and getting enough artwork done to have another open house this Fall. I haven't even listed the new Femme portraits in my Etsy shop yet. Grrrrr.

I am sure I will feel caught up eventually. Maybe.

I'm in a Blog feature!

Or, rather I was on Auguest 18th. I totally forgot all about it until a gentle nudge from the Blogger. Check me out here.

Also, while you're at it check out glamasaurus.com, where you can find adorable jewelry by my lovely interviewer.

My favorite is this cute little orange fawn necklace:

Femme 2008

I am still recovering.

Driving 1,000 miles to Chicago seemed like a good idea at the time. Honestly, it did. Because of finances and the fact that I wasn't 100% sure I could afford to go until pretty much the last minute, I decided to drive. Also, I was bringing a ton of art for the art show and a bunch of stuff for a vendor table. All of my boxes and bags and suitcases weren't particularly plane-friendly anyways, but still. Next time planes are my friend.

I spent 22 hours in the car on the way there and 23 and 1/2 hours in the car on the way back. Yes, I did stop for breaks and to sleep a little. However, it still amonuts to being in the car for almost an entire day straight. I was honestly contemplating staying in Chicago indefinitely to avoid having to drive home again. But clearly that didn't happen and I am glad to be home with all that driving behind me.

The conference itself was absolutely amazing. A whirlwind of vending, participating in workshops, listening to speakers, socializing, and just reveling in all of the incredible and powerful femme energy. It's really difficult to even put into words what being in a space full of femmes and allies was like. Everyone was so friendly and loving and supportive and open. I was in awe to even look around and see all of the beauty. Physical beauty, yes, but also beautiful energy and spirit. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced before. In a world where queerness and femininity are not celebrated and often scorned, it was particularly striking to be in a space created by and for femmes. It was like a dream.

In between all my vending and the session I participated in on femme identity and creativity, I was able to catch a few workshops and keynotes. I saw Dorothy Allison speak. I think I had goosebumps the entire time. The other keynote speaker I was able to catch was Julia Serano, of whom I was not aware prior to the conference. Her talk was also amazing and her book "Whipping Girl: A Transexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity" is now at the top of my must read list. In addition, I attended a workshop on allyship, a workshop discussing femmes of all genders, and learned how to make my own pasties in a skill share.

And this doesn't even include all the socializing, lunches, dinners, pizza, breakfasts, etc. Did I mention that I am still exhausted?

I did very, very well as a vendor. I don't think I could have asked for a better first experience selling my jewelry. I sold a TON of it. At times I looked around and it seemed like every femme at the conference was wearing my necklaces. I know that not literally everyone bought from me, but a significant portion did. I made enough money to pay for the trip and then some! Which is incredible. But even more incredible was everyone's enthusiasm and support of me as a femme artist. I truly was not prepared for what it would be like to look around and see person after person wearing something I had made. It was exhilirating, truly.

Here are some pictures of my table:







I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of the art exhibit, which sucks. I really wish I had some because it was amazing and I was honored to be a part of it. We got raving reviews the entire weekend. I sold two paintings. "Woman With Flowers" and "Woman in Red Dress" both have new homes with wonderful femmes:



Let's see, what else? I have four new paintings I haven't shown you yet. I created them in the week or so before the conference to take with me. Here they are:









All new paintings will be available in my Etsy shop within the week.

I was invited to vend at two additional conferences this fall, which I will talk about more later. I also have lots of new jewelry in the works for Etsy and plans to do another art show at the apartment in October. I am sure I will have lots to write about in the coming months. For now, I feel like this post is huge enough.

More soon!

Chicago

I AM FREAKING OUT.

That is all for now.

Art Show!

*phew*

It has been a really, REALLY busy past few weeks. And it doesn't show signs of slowing down for at least another three or four. Last weekend and the week before I was preparing for the opening of my Cherry Berry Bunny Etsy shop. And this weekend, my roommate and I put on a show of my art at our apartment. This past week has been a whirlwind of stress and trying to prepare for that.

We threw things together kind of last minute. We decided to put it on less than a month ago. I am going to be showing my art and participating in a panel about Femme identity and creativity at the national Femme Conference in August. I was scrambling trying to figure out how I was going to pay for it all, so my roommate suggested we throw together an art show in hopes that a couple paintings might sell.

Here's some pics from the show:

One painting is cut out of this picture because I can't reveal it here yet. Soon!


A wall with my newest series of portraits.


The "Goddess Wall". Everyone wanted to buy the Five goddesses painting, but my best friend has already bought it!


Collages.


More collages.








Three portraits that were hung singly.


My sister, my mom, and me.


Mingling.

It was overall a really great night! I didn't sell as much as I was hoping, but really I am happy I sold anything at all. That can never be a bad thing, right? :) I sold three paintings and have two possible commissions in the works. I am reasonably certain they will both come through. So, that is good as well. And even just getting people here to see my art is a good thing. It was also really nice to visit with my friends and family. I was kind of too nervous to enjoy a lot of it properly, LOL.

I have been making art like mad trying to get ready for the Femme Conference and trying to have a couple new things for my art show. I will leave you with two new paintings I haven't shown here yet:





I will, of course, keep you posted about art and the conference as it gets closer.

Grand Opening of My New Etsy Shop!! Everything on sale!!!!!!

I opened a new Etsy shop recently for my jewelry and stationery and will be having my official grand opening this weekend! For three days, July 18th-July 20th, EVERYTHING will be one sale for 15% off with free shipping. This is a great way to introduce yourself to my work as my prices will not be this low again. Every order over $20 will recieve a free kawaii mini memo grab bag. :)

I have tons of kitschy vintage charm necklaces, my own kawaii plastic pendants, resin pendants, charm necklaces, mini cards, and kawaii stationery. It's all really cute, I promise. Just click on my handy Etsy mini over to the right and check it out!

Here's a closer look at some of the items I am offering right now:















I am open to doing custom orders, so let me know if there's something you would like and don't see! I can make any of the resin pendants in any color you want, or with candy sprinkles inside if you prefer. I can work out a sketch for a plastic pendant of your choice, or do the same for mini cards. Feel free to leave me a comment here or convo me on Etsy.

New Paintings

I'm in a Book!

Ok, so again--too long between blog posts.

BUT, maybe when you hear my exciting news you will forgive me. :)

Most of you will probably know that I had two art journal pages selected to be in the book "1000 Artist Journal Pages" by Dawn DeVries Sokol who did a marvelous job designing the book and putting everything together. And for those of you who didn't know I was going to be in a book, well--now you do.

I waited WAY too long to order my copy. I don't really know why because I was so super excited to see myself in print finally. The book has been out for a few weeks now, I think, and I only recieved my copy last week.

Anyway, the book is GORGEOUS inside and out. There is so much beautiful art in one place it's unbelievable. I am very honored to be a part of it.





I made the pics extra big so you can be sure and see my name in my first publication.

In other exciting news--I received my very first commission for a painting today!!!! I'm like all legit and stuff now.

New Journal

Ok, so what happened to me blogging at least once a week? I had a lot of momentum going there for a while!

One interesting thing I did on the art front was start a new journal.

My sister gave me a ~*BEAUTIFUL*~ Papyrus journal for Christmas that I have been waiting to use ever since. But I was in the middle of another journal and had to force myself to finish that one first. Ok, so I got close to finshing and decided that was good enough. :) I tend to do that anyways--I don't think I have ever gotten to the point where I finish a journal to literally the last page.

Anyway, this gorgeous journal with all differently colored handmade papers inside in shades of pinks was just waiting for me. Except, I was a little intimated by it because it was so beautiful, you know? I decided I needed to just have at it and alter it a little. "Ruin" it, if you will.

I put lots of layers of paint and papers on the outside covers and the inside front and back covers. Now it feels like I can work in it a little bit. I've only done one entry so far, which I haven't taken a picture of yet.

But this is what the journal looks like:

Etsy Update! & some other stuff

I updated my Etsy shop this afternoon with more art. I will be getting my art back from the Springfield Cultural Council soon and I highly doubt anything is going to sell from their exhibit. And if by some weird coincidence someone makes an inquiry by email for something that has already sold--oh well. So, back into the shop it goes! Along with three new paintings that I am really proud of:





Another exciting thing is that I heard through the grapevine 1000 Artist Journal Pages in now available on Amazon.com! I cannot wait to see this book, seriously. I still haven't ordered a copy. They have been in the publisher's warehouse for like a month and I have had the forms to get my discounted copy for about that long. Ooops! I better do that this week. Or, at least go visit it in Barnes & Noble or something.

Lastly, I am pleased to say that I finally bought two domain names. I am still trying to figure out hosting and how to actually build a web site, but I needed to just go ahead and get my domain names now. Because one of the ones I originally wanted was taken! Boo! Couldn't let that happen again. For 20 bucks it was worth it.

I bought one for an art website which will just be my name (www.julieayotte.com) and another which will be a stationery web site, name to be revealed at a later date. I will be selling brand-name kawaii stationery as well as my own designs. I even registered myself as a business, if you can believe that. I now have an EIN number and a Massachusetts tax ID number which permits me to collect sales tax. I'm all official. I need to call this week and see what other permits I need to be selling things over the interent. Honestly, it will be such a small thing to start that I can't imagine anyone would give me trouble even if I didn't have a resale permit. But I figure better to get it now, right?

I've looked into a few ecommerce options that would get a web site up and running pretty easily and inexpensively. I need to learn more about web design at some point, but there are options for those of us with little knowledge about html and coding and all that other lovely stuff. The problem now is coming up with a little money to buy a few initial products. Oh, and I will need a scanner and printer. This crap about giving me 4 hours a week at my job just isn't going to cut it. I mean, are they really serious? Are they kidding? Are they waiting to see if I will notice and be like, ok I figured out your joke and this has gone far enough!

I'll keep you posted when all of this starts shaping up more. I have been playing around with a logo for my stationery shop already. ;)

My moo cards came today!

For those of you who don't know what moo mini cards are, you should check out the link. They are little mini business card type things. The cool part, though, is that they will print high-quality photos on the front of them. I have seen pictures of other moo cards artists have made and I really like them. They have pics of my art on the front and all my contact info on the back. Usually when I tell people I am an artist they ask what type of work I do. And most people are kind of in the dark about what, exactly, mixed media art is. Plus I feel like my art can be kind of hard to explain. So now I can just whip out my mini cards and show them!

I chose ten different paintings to use. You get 100 cards so I got ten of each one. The photos get cropped, but you get to choose the position of the crop, and still I think people will be able to get a good idea of what I do. When they say mini cards, they really mean mini! They were a lot smaller than I had even expected. But something people will remember, I think. The cards are kind of expensive at $19.99 for 100. Especially when you consider you can get business cards made at vistaprint for free. I really like how unique they are, though!

I figure I can start including them in swaps and send them to my pen pals and things like that. And hand them out to people I meet. Just to get the word out about my art a little bit more. I will probably end up having to order more soon because I suspect I will run through them quicker than I originally thought.

Heat Wave

It's too hot! Too hot to sleep, too hot to eat, too hot to paint.

My "Studio"

I bought my table! I didn't buy a chair because there was an extra one in the dining room, so I just snagged that. I did, however, buy some wire shelving. The kind that comes in cubes and you can configure however you want. It was a pain in the ass to put together, let me tell you. I spent the better part of Thursday and some of Friday rearranging my whole room and getting things set up.


Here's my table. I have a painting I started on it, as well as a huge mess of art supplies. Thank god I didn't have to put it all back before starting again! I actually worked on the painting last night and it's close to being done now.


The PIA shelves I got with all my art supplies and paintings on top.


Shelves, again.


Swaps from swapbot ready to go in the mail. If you haven't checked this place out, you need to. It's fun and totally addicting. I have been swapping mostly altered matchboxes and kawaii stationery. Don't mind my sock monkey sheets. :)

I need to update my blog more....

I do. I know this. I need to set a goal of updating at least once a week, I think. And then maybe go buck wild and start updating a few times a week. Can you imagine?????

I haven't taken pictures of anything in the past couple weeks, and usually I like showing pics of what I have been up to. Which, honestly, is nothing incredibly exciting.

My grandmother won some cash at the casino and has been giving away money like it's going out of style. So I decided I am finally going to break down and buy myself a table and chair so I can actually have somewhere to sit and make art and leave all my supplies out. I *HATE* having to clean everything up when I'm done and having to drag it all back out when I want to create again. It compltely stunts my creative process. So, nothing fancy--but a table. And a chair. And maybe even some plastic bins to put art supplies in. It will be wonderful and I will take a picture of my new "studio" when I am finished.

Downtown Art

I delivered my art for the May Family Arts Festival the weekend before last. It is now hung and looks great! A. and I visited my paintings and took lots of pictures. For any of you that are in the Springfield area, the art exhibit resides in the front window of the Tower Square building facing Main Street. The actual festival is this Saturday; I will let you know how it goes!













All of the paintings are available for sale. Whatever doesn't sell during the festival will be going back into my Etsy shop at the end of the month. Or, you may contact me directly if interested in making a purchase.